


Monster

by MusicPrincess655



Series: STZ Shenanigans [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Braces, Fluff, M/M, Useless Gays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-10-14
Packaged: 2018-08-22 09:36:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8281240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicPrincess655/pseuds/MusicPrincess655
Summary: First year Tendou has braces and a lisp. Ushijima is very gay.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, new episode, new fic! Time for some Ushiten.

_ Monster.  _

That’s what they called him, and looking in the mirror, Satori really couldn’t blame them. The bright red hair, the upturned nose, the permanently quirked up mouth certainly had an air of  _ monstrosity  _ to them. 

But maybe the monster nickname was about to get better, because he was about to fix the worst thing he’d ever been teased for: his crooked teeth. He’d always been snaggletoothed, always been called a monster for it, but now, going into high school, he was finally getting braces. 

He’d been begging for braces for years, but it was only now, with the last of his baby teeth  _ finally  _ gone, that he was able to get them. It didn’t even matter how much it hurt to get them, he was happy. He started grinning at himself in the mirror, really grinning, marvelling at how much  _ straighter  _ his teeth looked already. 

Really, there was only one downside: he spoke with a lisp now. The dentist assured him that he would learn to speak around the braces, but so far he hadn’t managed to get his s’s to stop sounding like th’s. 

Still, Satori was happier than he’d been in a while. He was going off to high school, a fresh start, with a less monstrous face and a place on the volleyball team. This was going to be good for him, he could just feel it. 

In some ways, he was right. He’d met a setter, Semi Eita, and from the first day it became clear that their mutual weirdness would end up pushing them together. Sure, Semi gave him some weird looks when he’d go on a rant about the anime he’d watched the night before, and he’d burst out laughing the first time he’d seen Semi in casual clothes, but as far as first friendships went, Satori decided he liked this one. 

Oohira Reon wasn’t bad, either. A little on the quiet side, but he was nice enough. He didn’t mind if Satori stole bites from his lunch. Yamagata Hayato was fun, too, with a mischievous side that spoke to Satori on a spiritual level. 

The only blip in Satori’s new group of friends was their one remaining first year. Ushijima Wakatoshi, the wonder ace who was already making waves, was quiet like Oohira. He was different from Oohira in the sense that he wouldn’t talk to Satori. 

This kind of hurt, especially after middle school years spent friendless and alone. It hurt more when Ushijima apparently had no problem talking to any of the other first years. Still, he was familiar with the taste of rejection, so he tried not to let it bother him too much. 

His new friends noticed anyway. 

***

“Ushijima,” Reon called, waving at the other first year. This wasn’t a conversation he was particularly looking forward to having - he wasn’t fond of confrontation - but he’d frankly had enough of Tendou’s pouting. Besides, even he had noticed it was strange how Ushijima would avoid Tendou alone. 

Ushijima nodded at him, letting him know he was listening. 

“You’ve got to stop ignoring Tendou,” he said, hoping that if he said things quickly and without ambiguity this could be over quickly. “I don’t know what your problem is with him, but he hasn’t done anything and it’s not good for team dynamics.”

“I find it hard to speak to him,” Ushijima admitted. “When he speaks, he lisps.”

“Listen, that’s not something he can control. It’s not fair to make fun of him for that,” Reon started hotly. He hadn’t expected Ushijima to be this much of a jerk. 

“No, I’m not trying to make fun of him,” Ushijima replied, looking about as worried as Reon had ever seen him. “Whenever he speaks, I seem to lose my train of thought. I can’t explain it.”

Oh.  _ Oh _ . That actually made a lot more sense than Ushijima randomly being a jerk to only one person. 

“You think he’s cute,” Reon realized. Ushijima gave him a blank look, considering. 

“Yes. I suppose you’re right,” Ushijima mused. “He is objectively cute. I hadn’t thought of it this way before.”

Reon sighed. This wasn’t a problem he was planning on having, but at least the solution would probably be easier than stopping Ushijima from hating Tendou for no reason. 

“You should try talking to him more,” Reon advised. “He thinks you hate him and he doesn’t even know what he did wrong. It’s not good for the team.”

Ushijima looked apologetic. 

“I am sorry,” he said. “I did not mean to make him unhappy.”

Reon left him there, thinking about options. Okay, so now he knew that Ushijima was as uselessly gay as Tendou. He could work with this. Semi would probably help if it was for Tendou - those two were best friends - and Yamagata would probably help just because he’d think he could laugh at someone. 

Tendou was getting his braces tightened today. Tomorrow, the lisp that had been going away gradually would be back with a vengeance. Reon thought he might have an idea.

***

Wakatoshi was determined to talk to Tendou today. He hadn’t realized he’d been making his teammate upset by avoiding him. He didn’t realize a lot of things like that until he was told. 

Still, it made his chest a little tight when he thought he was the reason for Tendou being sad, even if he hadn’t done it on purpose. So he had to fix it today. 

“Would you please block for me?” Wakatoshi asked Tendou politely when they were released for free practice. Tendou’s eyes widened, before he looked over his shoulder to see if Wakatoshi was talking to anyone else, dark red bangs swishing. Wakatoshi tried not to be distracted by that. 

Tendou turned back, breaking into a grin that showed his braces. 

“Yeth,” he said, and Wakatoshi’s face felt strangely hot. It was nice to have a word for that lisp now.  _ Cute _ . 

Wakatoshi kind of wanted to go hide in the locker room - his face wouldn’t cool down - but if he left now Tendou would definitely think he hated him.  _ Be strong, Wakatoshi.  _

Semi agreed to set for him without any complaint, and they were off. Tendou was remarkably skilled, sometimes appearing in Wakatoshi’s way before he was sure himself where he was going. He could still spike through Tendou - one blocker wasn’t much of a challenge - but the ball didn’t go exactly where he wanted it to. It was frustrating, but fun. Tendou got louder and louder, laughing and smiling and cracking jokes. 

Everything was going fine until Tendou missed a step, got his timing all wrong, and took Wakatoshi’s next spike straight to the face. Wakatoshi was under the net and running to him before he even realized he was moving. 

“Are you alright?” he asked, pulling Tendou’s hands away from his mouth to take a look. There was a trickle of blood running down his chin. 

Before Tendou could respond, Wakatoshi had already pulled him up into his arms, announcing -  _ perhaps a bit too loudly _ \- that he was taking his teammate to the nurse. He rushed out, barely hearing Tendou’s spluttering or the snickers of the teammates behind him.

The nurse was  _ not _ moving with the sense of urgency Wakatoshi felt the situation required when they arrived. She calmly directed him to put Tendou down on the bed so she could clean him up. Wakatoshi sat next to him, babbling apologies. 

“I’m so sorry, I did not mean to spike into your face. I wasn’t trying to do it on purpose and I do not hate you even though you probably think I do at this point because I never talk to you and the first time I do I spike a ball into your face but it was an accident, I swear…”

“Wakatoshi-kun,” Tendou interrupted, except his lisp was even more pronounced with his swollen lips, so it came out as “Wakatothi-kun”. “I’m fine. It was an accident, and besides, I just cut my lip a little on the braces.”

Wakatoshi stared. His lisp was adorable, but Wakatoshi felt bad for thinking that since he’d made it worse. 

“Can I buy you an ice cream to make up for it?” he asked. Tendou blushed as red as his hair. 

“Um...if you...if you want, sure,” he stuttered. “I like chocolate.”

“I will buy you chocolate ice cream this Saturday after practice,” Wakatoshi promised. 

***

“I can’t believe you managed to ask Tendou on a date all by yourself,” Reon congratulated Ushijima. “You couldn’t even talk to him before last week.”

“It was not a date,” Ushijima replied. “I merely wanted to make up for spiking into his face.”

“You took him to the park and bought him ice cream,” Reon said, exasperated. 

“Yes.”

“You guys spent three hours there.”

“It was a nice day.”

“You held his hand!”

“He got lost. I did not want him to get lost again.”

“You agreed to do it again next weekend!”

“I...huh,” Ushijima paused, looking deep in thought. A pink blush dusted across his cheeks. “I took Tendou on a date.”

Reon sighed. This team was going to be more trouble than he’d thought. 

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr: [ @musicprincess655 ](http://www.musicprincess655.tumblr.com)


End file.
